Zombie Aliens
Here's two brief reviews, since I don't feel like making big ones:
Land of the Dead
Well, I had high hopes for this one. George Romero making another zombie movie? It's gonna be great! And it was good, but not great. I just felt too much time was spent on the stolen-tank-slash-Dennis-Hopper-slash-redemption plot, and not enough time on zombie mayhem, but if it were up to me, the whole movie would be nothing but. I can recommend it to anyone looking for a fun time, and a good zombie movie, but not to someone looking for a horror flick. Land of the Dead was just too self-deprecating and amusing to be scary. I give it a C+.
War of the Worlds
Tom Cruise has seemingly been on a career suicide mission, but if you can seperate yourself from all of his recent insanity, then War of the Worlds is a great summertime movie. Spielberg proves again that sci-fi and action are his bread and butter, not the Nutella that was The Terminal. Cruise seems to be cruising, only bringing real vitality and importance to his role when he is outside of his safety zone, i.e. stealing a car while Dakota Fanning screams at him non-stop, or straight up murdering a guy to preserve his own existence. Like Collateral or Magnolia, I'm more interested in seeing the dark side of Cruise, not the goody-goody action hero. Anyway, Fanning is great, and upstages Cruise at every opportunity, and the movie creates a pretty believable scenario, right down to reactions that seem appropriate in the wake of 9/11.
One note that was kind of weird for me. While driving away from the city, after the aliens first attack, Fanning asks Cruise if the attack was the work of "the terrorists." While I suppose this is a question that a kid would ask a parent in these times, it just struck me the wrong way for some reason. It seemed kinda tacked on, I guess. Was it necessary to the advancement of the plot? Not really.
One other thing: Are we really supposed to buy Tom freaking Cruise as a sullen dockworker who likes working on muscle cars? In designer jeans, no less? Come on, Stevie, give me a break. Make Cruise's character a business executive or something, and the story will have just as much impact, maybe even more. Nobody is buying Tom Cruise as the working-class hero.
Except maybe they are. Audiences have been flocking to War of the Worlds, bringing in over 57 million in it's first 3 days. Cruise's inane comments on every available media outlet apparently haven't kept people away from the movie. Which is good, because overall, it's pretty good. Probably better with a different star, but still ok with Cruise, and it gets a B.
Land of the Dead
Well, I had high hopes for this one. George Romero making another zombie movie? It's gonna be great! And it was good, but not great. I just felt too much time was spent on the stolen-tank-slash-Dennis-Hopper-slash-redemption plot, and not enough time on zombie mayhem, but if it were up to me, the whole movie would be nothing but. I can recommend it to anyone looking for a fun time, and a good zombie movie, but not to someone looking for a horror flick. Land of the Dead was just too self-deprecating and amusing to be scary. I give it a C+.
War of the Worlds
Tom Cruise has seemingly been on a career suicide mission, but if you can seperate yourself from all of his recent insanity, then War of the Worlds is a great summertime movie. Spielberg proves again that sci-fi and action are his bread and butter, not the Nutella that was The Terminal. Cruise seems to be cruising, only bringing real vitality and importance to his role when he is outside of his safety zone, i.e. stealing a car while Dakota Fanning screams at him non-stop, or straight up murdering a guy to preserve his own existence. Like Collateral or Magnolia, I'm more interested in seeing the dark side of Cruise, not the goody-goody action hero. Anyway, Fanning is great, and upstages Cruise at every opportunity, and the movie creates a pretty believable scenario, right down to reactions that seem appropriate in the wake of 9/11.
One note that was kind of weird for me. While driving away from the city, after the aliens first attack, Fanning asks Cruise if the attack was the work of "the terrorists." While I suppose this is a question that a kid would ask a parent in these times, it just struck me the wrong way for some reason. It seemed kinda tacked on, I guess. Was it necessary to the advancement of the plot? Not really.
One other thing: Are we really supposed to buy Tom freaking Cruise as a sullen dockworker who likes working on muscle cars? In designer jeans, no less? Come on, Stevie, give me a break. Make Cruise's character a business executive or something, and the story will have just as much impact, maybe even more. Nobody is buying Tom Cruise as the working-class hero.
Except maybe they are. Audiences have been flocking to War of the Worlds, bringing in over 57 million in it's first 3 days. Cruise's inane comments on every available media outlet apparently haven't kept people away from the movie. Which is good, because overall, it's pretty good. Probably better with a different star, but still ok with Cruise, and it gets a B.
posted by Brent Jensen at 1:07 AM
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